First, I want to share an amazing 20 e-book giveaway I’m participating in with some amazing authors. If you’ll notice, most of these covers have dudes on them, thus the boys of summer theme. 😉 My addition to the giveaway is a copy of the 10-novella Kill Zone: Ten Deadly Thrillers boxed set (it won’t be delivered until the set goes live in October, so it’ll be HOURS of thrilling reading this fall!). Please check this out and enter for a chance to win all these books!
Second, I just wanted to share some of my summer reads!
As you can probably tell, it’s been a mystery-heavy summer for me! I’ve read and enjoyed all these books and will post my reviews below. Just click on the book’s title to find it on Amazon:
Death of a Dead Man by Karin Kaufman: This first-in-series cozy mystery has everything you could hope for–a main character you can relate to, quirky characters, and a charming small-town setting in which murder just happens to be afoot. Looking forward to the rest of this new series!
The Bones will Speak by Carrie Stuart Parks: Once again, I tore through this book. Once again, I couldn’t have predicted many of the twists. Once again, I learned something new. Somewhat gritty, but not graphic, this is a series I would recommend to all my mystery-reading friends. Now, on to the next in the series!
Sapped by Emily James: I was drawn to this series by the amazing cover. This cozy was just right. Clean, interesting, and well-written, with a winsome protagonist. I’ll be reading the next books in this series. Also, please note, you receive this e-book free when you sign up for the author’s newsletter list (author website here).
A Fierce Love by Shauna Shanks: Woah. Mind. Blown. Every marriage should have this as required reading. My whole idea of what love looks like was turned around. Shanks speaks transparently (but not horribly graphically) about her husband’s affair, and about the spiritual attacks they were both undergoing during that time. She also speaks of the victory she experienced in Christ PERSONALLY, before God ever healed her marriage. Each step of the way, she sought God’s leading–“I have found that I am safe in obedience.” Anyone who’s been in this Christian journey for a while knows this is so true. Meanwhile, God was using her renewed love for her husband to remind her of His relentless, grace-filled love for her.
Practical advice fills these pages, but it’s not prescriptive and across-the-board, so Shanks doesn’t presume to say everyone should respond to a broken marriage the exact same way she did–but she does believe marriage (love) is worth fighting for, even when the love doesn’t seem to be there anymore.
Uplifting, encouraging, grace-filled book I highly encourage everyone to read, not just those whose marriages are already in trouble. It also addresses apathy in marriage, the need to accept help from others, what forgiveness really looks like, and so many other things. This book is like a much-needed breath of fresh air for Christians struggling in their marriages. It gives hope–but the hope is in GOD, not in the wayward spouse.
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Finally, I wanted to let you know that God’s Daughter, my bestselling Viking historical based on the Icelandic sagas, is currently only 99c for e-readers! This is the start of a two-book series that features strong, real Viking women who went down in history for sailing to North America. If you have any interest in Norse history, particularly the family of Eirik the Red and Leif Eiriksson, you’ll want to learn more about this group of wayfaring Vikings. Pick it up now at the links below!
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I hope you’re having a wonderful summer. We’re getting ready to bid my firstborn adieu for his first year of college (be still, my mommy heart!), and I already have a school supply list and various other things I need to work on for my other kiddos. Although this summer has flown by, my hubby and I were able to work in some date nights, like the one pictured below. We went with friends to a restaurant in the Virginia mountains that makes bison burgers! Quite tasty and we had a lovely time. Enjoy these summer days!
